The German Animal Welfare Federation recommends paying particular attention to the farming methods when buying eggs this Easter. The majority of fresh eggs in supermarkets and the popular colorful Easter eggs come from laying hens kept in conventional barns, which severely restricts the animals' lives. There are now plenty of alternatives for an animal-friendly Easter without animal products. However, if you don't want to do without Easter eggs, you should buy eggs from so-called dual-purpose hens or look out for the animal welfare label “Für Mehr Tierschutz”(“For More Animal Welfare”) from the German Animal Welfare Federation.
"Just like fresh shell eggs, the popular colorful Easter eggs usually come from barn hens. Just over 60 percent of farmed laying hens come from this form of husbandry, which is not very animal-friendly," explains Annika Lange, specialist for animals in agriculture at the German Animal Welfare Association. Thousands of hens live in a huge hall, with around nine hens having to share one square meter. There is no outdoor run. As boiled and dyed Easter eggs are processed products, there is no obligation to label the farming method, unlike with fresh shell eggs. If this is not stated voluntarily, the colored eggs may even originate from small group cages that violate animal welfare.
PROFIT GOES BEFORE ANIMAL WELFARE
Although laying hens can live for around 10-15 years, they are sorted out and slaughtered after just one and a half years, as their laying performance decreases. The German Animal Welfare Association also strongly criticizes the illegal and unlawful form of “head over heels catching” when they are turned out: “Chickens must not be allowed to suffer or be seriously injured because it is quicker or easier to catch them by the legs and carry them.” Another problem is that laying hens are bred for maximum performance in order to lay as many eggs as possible. This results in health problems for the hens. Males are economically worthless because they cannot lay eggs and, as the offspring of laying hens, hardly produce any meat. As a rule, they are already destroyed as embryos in the egg.
MORE ANIMAL PROTECTION IN CHICKEN REARING
Healthier and more robust breeds are the so-called dual-purpose chickens, as they perform more moderately, they are kept for both egg and meat production and the problem of an economically worthless sex does not arise in the first place. Consumers usually find eggs from dual-purpose hens on the organic market. The German Animal Welfare Federation's animal welfare label “Für Mehr Tierschutz”, which can be found on many egg packs in supermarkets and which guarantees greater animal welfare in breeding, husbandry, transportation and slaughter, has also seen the first projects with dual-purpose hens. The German Animal Welfare Association also points to the growing number of plant-based alternatives. The association provides Easter recipes without any animal products on the website www.weiljedemahlzeitzählt.de.
Note to editors: DU UND DAS TIER, the magazine of the German Animal Welfare Federation, reports on the suffering of laying hens in the current issue 1/2025: www.duunddastier.de/produktionsmaschine-legehenne
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
